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Dr David Curran

Photo of David Curran

Assistant Course Director Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

Email: d.curran@qub.ac.uk

Address

Room 03.523, David Keir Building
School of Psychology
Queen's University Belfast
Belfast, BT7 1NN
Northern Ireland, UK

Telephone

+44 (0)28 9097 5652

Profile
Teaching
Research
Publications

After completing my undergraduate degree in Psychology (first class honours) in 1992 I worked for two years as an assistant psychologist in an Adult Mental Health setting. Subsequently I obtained my Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Queens University in 1997. Since qualifying as a clinical psychologist I have worked primarily within the field of addiction. I am a full member of the British Psychological Society, including the Division of Clinical Psychology, and am registered as a clinical psychologist with the Health Professions Council. 

Since 2003 I have been employed as Consultant Clinical Psychologist within Addiction Services in the Northern HSC Trust. Currently I am Lead Psychologist within this Multidisciplinary Addiction Team (0.6 wte) I have experience of working with clients with a wide variety of substance misuse / mental health problems. Clinically my areas of interest include working with individuals who have a history of trauma or co-morbid difficulties, and neuropsychological assessment in addiction. Within the service I have responsibility for audit /service evaluation activities and am chair of the Addiction Journal Club. I have extensive experience of providing clinical supervision / consultancy to a range of professionals but in particular to psychologists in training or pre- training grades.

In addition to teaching on the undergraduate programme (Year 3, Psychology and Wellbeing module), I contribute to a variety of modules within the D.Clin. Psych. curriculum including specialist teaching in area of addiction. 

I have supervised research in a broad range of areas (see further information section) but have a particular interest in;

  • Trauma as an aetiological factor in the development of adult psychopathology
  • Understanding co-morbidity and how it relates to treatment outcomes
  • Neuropsychology deficits and the impact on recovery
  • Implicit cognition in psychopathology

 

Further information

Research Supervision and Management

I have experience of supervising research at both undergraduate and postgraduate level and have undertaken GCP training.

Ph.D / DClin Psych theses supervised to successful completion

The Assessment of Premorbid Intelligence in Traumatic Brain Injury (Bravey, S.A., 2008)

Executive functioning in relation to age of onset and pattern of consumption in problem drinkers (McCullough, E., 2008)

An exploratory analysis of voice hearing in PTSD: Potential associated mechanisms (Anketell, C., 2008)

Executive Functioning and Recovery in Problem Drinkers.  (Scott, G.T., 2008)

The Trauma Still Goes On: The Multigenerational Legacy of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ (Downes, C., 2009)

Information Processing Biases in Adolescents at Risk of Developing Adult Alcohol Problems (Gallagher, J., 2009)

The Impact of Shame on therapeutic alliance and intimate relationships. (Black, R. 2010)

The impact of trauma on Therapeutic Alliance in an Adult Addiction population (McLaughlin, E., 2011)

Early childhood relationship experiences of individuals in treatment for sexually abusive behaviour within the context of the therapeutic relationship: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. (Gordon, W., 2011)

Outcomes of decompressive hemicraniectomy following MCA infarction (McKenna, A., 2011)

Service Related Projects

Predictors of attendance at an outpatient Addictions Service (Johnstone, C., 2007)

An Evaluation of Aftercare Services For Alcohol Addiction  (Marshall, M., 2009)

Current Research Supervision / Activity

The Role of Early Developmental Factors on Adult Addiction Population

Impact of illness perceptions on outcome in alcohol problems.

Mentalization: Predicting Psychological Distress within the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Impact of experimental manipulation of attentional bias to alcohol-related stimuli on initial orienting and maintained attention in heavy social drinkers: an eye-tracking study.

Attentional bias to alcohol-related stimuli in “at risk” adolescents: an eye-tracking study.

Recent  Presentations / Publications

Caroline Anketell,  Martin J. Dorahy, Maria Shannon,  Rhonda Elder,  Geraldine Hamilton,  Mary Corry, Anne MacSherry, David Curran, & Bridget O’Rawe (2010). An exploratory analysis of voice hearing in PTSD: Potential associated mechanism.  Journal of Trauma & Dissociation. 

Caroline Anketell,  Martin J. Dorahy, David Curran (2011). A preliminary qualitative investigation of voice hearing and its association with dissociation in chronic PTSD. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation. 

Curran, D. (2011) The impact of trauma on therapeutic engagement within an addictions population.  Alcohol symposium:  British Feeding and Eating Group Conference, Queen’s University, Belfast.

McKenna, A., Wilson, F.C., Caldwell, S., & Curran, D. (In press)., Functional Outcomes of Decompressive Hemicraniectomy following Malignant Middle Cerebral Artery Infarctions: A Systematic Review.  British Journal of Neurosurgery

McKenna, A., Wilson, F.C., Caldwell, S., Curran, D., Nagaria, J.,& Convery, F. (in Press).  Long-Term Neuropsychological and Psychosocial Outcomes of Decompressive Hemicraniectomy following Malignant Middle Cerebral Artery Infarctions. Disability and Rehabilitation